Cigar-protector.



F. RAGKEMANN.

CIGAR PROTECTOR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 2. 1909.

955,900, Patented.Apr.26, 1910.

ANDREW IW'U- mumoamwtns WASMIMGIW. E Q.

FELIX RACKEMANN, OF MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

CIGAR-PROTECTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 26, 1910.

Application filed July 2, 1909. Serial No. 505,576.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FELIX RACKEMANN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Milton, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Cigar-Protectors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to devices for covering and protecting lighted cigars from the elements, and also for preventing the ashes of the cigar from dropping accidentally upon the floor or furniture, and my invention relates more particularly to providing a device of this class which shall be light and also collapsible so that when not in use it may be carried in the pocket conveniently.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows in a perspective View the frame of my device, open; Fig. 2 shows the same closed; Fig. 3 shows, upon an enlarged scale, a detail of one of the longitudinal frame ribs with its integral spring fingers; Fig. 4 shows a detail of the organization of the ribs at the pivot point; Fig. 5 shows another view of the same organization; Fig. 6 shows the bag or body, separate from the frame; Fig. 7 shows the device ready for use; Fig. 8 shows the device collapsed for the pocket; and Figs. 9, 10 and 11, show modified forms.

The desirability of protecting cigars both Within doors and out of doors is apparent. Within doors the smoking of unprotected cigars results frequently in spilling the cigar ashes upon carpets and furniture and in burning the carpets and furniture when the unprotected lighted cigar falls or is laid down upon any article. Out of doors, especially when riding in a carriage or automobile or on the deck of a steamer, the wind not only frequently blows the ashes of a cigar in the face or upon the clothing of the smoker or some other person, but also consumes the cigar at an undue rate. While such matters may be merely an inconvenience or annoyance in many cases, in some cases, as, for example, the case of a person driving a motor car, the blowing of hot ashes back in the face is dangerous, so much so, that careful drivers do not care to smoke while driving.

Protectors heretofore in use have been made of aluminum or other metal formed to receive the cigar, with various swinging doors and the like to permit the ashes to be removed, and such devices have been relatively heavy and bulky and inconvenient to be carried by the user in his pocket. In my new cigar protector, these difiiculties as to weight and bulk are met by en'iploying for the body of my protector, a bag of ilexible, incombustible material such, for example, as glass cloth or asbestos cloth, such body being stretched over a collapsible frame of aluminumor other incombustible material. \Vhen not in use the frame is collapsed, the bag or body folded as tightly as desired and the device is ready in minimum compass for a case or the pocket.

In the drawings, a is a rib of the frame, made of aluminum or other suitable noncombustible material, each rib having at one end a connecting member a of similar material by which it is connected to a pivot, 00, common to all the ribs. In practice I form each rib of a thin flat strip of aluminum or the like and form the member a by bending one end over. Each rib, a, carries, projecting from its inner surface, spring fingers a which are preferably stamped out of the body of the rib and are integral therewith, the free ends of these fingers being preferably somewhat rounded, in order that they may engage and slip along the surface of a cigar without tearing or abrading the wrapper. The cover, which may be of glass cloth or other suitable non-inflammable material, is marked A. The pivot pin :0 upon which the ribs are pivoted is headed at one end and screw threaded at the other and carries a small nut a? upon the screw threaded portion. Between the nut and the member a, of the ribs a is a spring washer :0 Such spring pressure as is desired may be given to the members a so that suitable friction may be set up between them to hold them in adjusted position.

The operation is as follows: The frame is slipped inside the cover, preferably in its collapsed condition, and is then opened, the ribs being evenly spaced about the common center, thus distending the cover, which is, preferably, of such a size that it fits tightly about the ribs.

In Figs. 9, 10 and 11, I have shown modified forms of my device, that in Fig 9 showing a device in which there are two ribs 1, preferably connected by an integral connection 2 each rib having mounted upon its inner side a series of curved spreader arms 3, the said arms being pivoted to the respectively are pivoted at one end to a frame 12, the pivotal connection being transverse to the length of the ribs and in the plane of the frame 12, so that the frame 12 may be turned relative to-the ribs, and the frame thus collapsed. The several ribs carry spring fingers a in both modifications and preferably rib 11 carries curved spreader arms, 3, as shown.

I claim:

1. In a cigar protector, the combination of a cover of flaccid, non-combustible material and a frame within that cover to support and distend it throughout its length.

2. In a cigar protector, the combination of a cover of flaccid, non-combustible material and a collapsible frame within that cover to support and distend it throughout its length.

3. In a cigar protector, the combination of a distending frame of non-combustible material; supporting fingers upon the inner surface of the frame and a cover of flexible,

esaooo combustible material pivoted at one end to swing about a common center into a substantially common plane and inwardly projecting fingers upon those ribs, substantially as described.

6. In a cigar protector, the combinationof a cover of flaccid, non-combustible material, and a frame to support and distend it throughout its length- 7. In a cigar protector, the combination of a cover of flaccid, non-combustible materlal,

and acollapsible frame to support and distend the cover throughout its length.

Signed by me at Boston, Massachusetts, this twenty sixth day of June, 1909. f FELIX RACKEMANN. Witnesses: V

RALPH W. DUNBAR, J OHN L. NEWELL. 

